Novak Djokovic confident and ready for Wimbledon after successful rehabilitation

The seven-time All England Club champion was expected to miss the tournament after having to withdraw from the French Open due to a right knee injury and subsequently undergoing surgery earlier this month.

However, Djokovic trained on Centre Court with Jannik Sinner on Thursday before declaring a day later that he was pain-free after beating Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-4 in an exhibition match at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic at Hurlingham.

Djokovic is set to open his 19th Grand Slam tournament on Tuesday against qualifier Vit Kopriva and will hope his knee can withstand the rigours of five-set tennis.

“When it happened in the fourth round of Roland-Garros, I made the decision very quickly to have surgery and I had a lot of doubts about participating at Wimbledon,” explained the 37-year-old.

“Then, after long conversations with some athletes who have experienced very similar situations – for example, Taylor Fritz, who experienced something almost similar to what I experienced three years ago. He said 21 days after playing his first round at Wimbledon.

“(Stan) Wawrinka, Lindsey Vonn, they all shared their experiences and really, it gave me the faith and the optimism that if the rehabilitation is done well and correctly, and if of course the knee responds well – which is something very unpredictable – then there is a good chance that I will compete at Wimbledon.

“I arrived here on Sunday. It was a week of training. A very good week of training.

“I had, especially in the last three days, very intense tennis sessions. I scored points. The training sets were played with Sinner, with Frances Tiafoe, with Medvedev yesterday and Emil Ruusuvuori, in fact a double session, and then today with (Holger) Rune, too.

“Really high-level players playing good grass tennis. High intensity. A lot of, I guess, situations on the court where the knee is put under strain. Change of direction.

“My knee has responded very well to all of this so far, which is of course a good sign for my participation at Wimbledon. That’s why I decided to participate in the draw.

“I still have a few days left. I play Tuesday. I am confident about the health of my knee and my general physical condition is really good.

“Obviously once the tournament starts I’ll have more, I guess, feeling and more feedback on how the knee reacts in a best-of-five Grand Slam match. So far everything that’s been done has been very positive.”